HawthoRNe Virtual S3: Episode 1: In the Beginning
by Pari
Summary: Christina has to deal with some life changing events all while handling a child abuse case.


**"And you want to use both?" The blue haired lady behind the counter asked as she continued typing in the information she had been given.**

"Yes, definitely."

"Ok Christina, I'll get everything completed and switched over in your personnel file and I'll call you down when I'm finished."

"Thanks Pearl you're a doll." Christina said as she flashed the elderly woman who was long past retirement, a 100 watt smile.

"You're welcome hun," Pearl replied as she returned the smile. Christina then turned to exit and plowed right into Morrissey."

"Nurse Hawthorne, Good morning." Christina stared up at the man with wide, apologetic eyes.

"Oh Morrissey, ah good morning…sorry didn't mean to mow you over."

"No harm done, what are you doing down here in the administration lair? You usually avoid my domain like the plague, except when you want something impossible from me. Please don't tell me that that's why you're down here, I haven't had my coffee yet."

"No, I don't need a thing…well not yet anyway," She said throwing him a playful smile and Morrissey couldn't stop the chuckle it invoked.

"So why are you down here?" He asked curiously.

"Just needed to update my personnel file, that's all," She stated as she threw her hands up as if giving to surrender as she walked past him, then she turned and smiled as she said, "But I might be back to see you the day's still young." With that she turned and continued on her trek back to the ER.

* * *

"Well good morning Nurse Hawthorne," Bobbie was the first to greet Christina as she stepped into the nurse's station.

"Good morning Nurse Jackson," She mimicked a reply as she nudged her friend with her elbow as she walked by her and grabbed a chart. She scanned the chart and when she heard a familiar voice she lifted her eyes to rest upon Dr. Erin Jameson and Dr. Tom Wakefield. She couldn't quell the jealously that seeped into her as she watched their interactions closely. Christina knew that Tom had ended things with Erin and he was 'officially' hers now but she still couldn't stop herself from hating Erin just a little bit and also envying her more than a little bit.

"Hey I thought you stopped wearing that." Bobbie's voice captured her attention and Christina turned inquisitive eyes onto her friend. "Your wedding band," Bobbie continued as she nodded her head towards Christina's left ring finger which house a gold wedding band. "It's been nearly three years since Michael's death and I thought things were moving along well with you and Tom."

"They are, Tom and I are doing really, really good, great in fact, and uhm…this isn't the wedding band I got from…Michael." Christina stated as she set her lips in a thin line and arched her brow and waited, and it didn't take long for Bobbie's epiphany.

"Oh my God!" Bobbie squealed and all eyes were suddenly on her. She clamped her hand over her huge grin as tears filled her eyes. She bounced slightly and Christina was happy to finally share her news with someone she was positive would be as over the moon about it as she was.

"It just happened last night."

"Oh my God, oh my God!" Bobbie chanted loudly and Tom threw a knowing smile her way as he watched Christina maneuver her friend from the Nurse's station and from prying eyes and ears.

"I tried calling you so you could be one of our witnesses, but I guess you were busy." Bobbie's elated face instantly fell.

"Oh Christina I'm so sorry, had I known, you know I would have stood up for you. You didn't say a word, didn't even hint that you and Tom were getting married."

"Well I didn't know myself until he pulled us up in front of the Justice of the Peace office. So much happened yesterday with the explosion and the inspection, things were crazy and hectic around here. Not to mention that technically Erin was still Tom's girlfriend as far as I knew so the last thing on 'my' mind was getting married."

"But you 'got' married."

"Yeah I did." Christina concurred with a smile and a nod.

"Congratulations," Bobbie said as she pulled Christina into a welcomed embraced. "Oh and you're still getting a bachelorette party and it's gonna be off the chain, strippers and booze galore."

"Well I'm ok with the strippers don't know how my 'husband' is gonna feel about that though, but as for the booze, I'm not feel'n that."

"Oh please you can't have a bachelorette party if you don't intend to get drunk off your ass." Bobbie defended.

"I agree and under normal circumstances I'd be the first to tap the bottle and twist the cap, but my circumstances have changed," Christina said as she lovingly rubbed both her hands across her taunt belly. Bobbie's eye followed her motion and then nearly popped out of her head.

"Oh My GODDDDDDD!" Bobbie's scream seemed to echo throughout the corridor.

"Shhhhh," Christina laughed as she tried to calm her friend while her eyes darted about the corridor. "We haven't told anybody else about this, not the marriage or the pregnancy."

"Sorry, but this is so great I'm so happy for you…and Tom…and Camille, oh how did she take the news that she's got a new stepdad and baby brother or sister?"

"'Member what I just said about 'haven't told anybody else'…yeah."

"You're kidding right? You haven't told Camille?" Bobbie asked with a chuckle.

"I'm a grown ass woman I don't 'have' to tell Camille anything," Christina announced as she rolled her neck a bit, but the attitude instantly melted into fright as she reached up and tugged at her bottom lip. "And I don't know what I'm gonna say to her."

"Aww sweetie," Bobbie giggled as she tugged her friend into another hug. "I say just tell her the truth because in a few weeks she's gonna be able to figure the baby part out on her own, as for the marriage that ring kind of gives it away." Christina pulled back and lifted her hand up to examine the ring.

"No one's noticed but you."

"Right and that's because I know you so well, and Camille knows you even better. So tell her…and congratulations daddy," Bobbie cooed out having spotted the approaching Dr. Wakefield. She moved past Christina and into his awaiting arms. Tom hugged her as his face held the 'goofy' smile as Christina had called it, and it had been plastered on his face ever since she told him of her condition. Christina stood watching them with a smile on her face. Then Bobbie pulled back from the hug and placed a chaste kiss on Tom's cheek. "I'm so happy for you, both of you. Oh and I've already called dib's on throwing Christina a bachelorette party, no booze but a lot of strippers."

"Strippers?" Tom repeated as he threw a worried look at Christina, who in turn twisted her mouth and threw her hands in the air.

"Hey don't look at me I'm not planning it." She said with a giggle.

"Don't worry I've got it all covered," Bobbie said as she tossed out a wink. "I'll get back to you with the details later." She then walked off leaving the newlyweds to themselves. When Tom looked at Christina all other thoughts left his mind and the 'goofy' smile returned to his face.

"Good morning wife and mommy," He spoke in a hushed tone as he took a step closer to her. Christina's own 'goofy' smile emerged at hearing the titles. She reached out and tugged on his left ring finger where sat a gold wedding band that matched her own.

"Good morning husband and daddy," She replied and closed the distance between them and then leaned up and captured his mouth in a slow sensual kiss.

"Uhm...Mmm," A voice behind them pulled them from their joy and they both turned to see and short blue haired old lady standing before them. "I was coming down for something else and figured I'd bring this with me in case I ran into you, which I literally did. You two know that fraternizing like that in the hallways is not very professional, you better watch out for that. Don't let Morrissey catch you." She then handed Christina a badge and then scurried off.

"Thank you Pearl," Christina called after the woman who never turned around to acknowledge her but simply threw her a quick wave over her shoulder. She then removed the badge on her jacket and replaced it with the new one, which read, 'Christina Hawthorne-Wakefield, R.N.'. "So what do you think?" She asked genuinely curious to know. She had been worried about how Tom would react; whether he would not like her putting it out there for everyone in the workplace to see, but mostly she was concerned that he might have an issue with her keeping Hawthorne in her name. The decision had been more for a professional reason than a personal one.

"Thank you," Tom said with a loving smile as he reached out and traced his finger over the name that was etched onto the badge. "Now it's 'official'."

"Oh, it was 'official' last night and this morning around 3 and again at 7. Once you consummate it it's legally binding baby, so your lovely ass belongs to me now."

"Ditto," He said as he leaned back down with the intention of kissing his wife again but his pager interrupted. He read the message and then threw out an apologetic look. "Sorry baby I gotta go, looks like the guy we thought was stable isn't anymore and the surgery we had planned for him next week is happening right now," He started to walk off but turned back to give Christina a quick wet kiss. "I love you." He said and then started to kneel down but Christina grasped his arm and tugged him back up. She knew he had started to kneel down to kiss her belly which he had been doing constantly since hearing he was going to be a father.

"Don't you even think about it," She warned and he only chuckled and swooped in and gave her another kiss.

"That's for ma fille," Tom stated at he walked off.

"Or your fils," Christina called after him and he stalled in his step at the end of the corridor and turned back to regard her and grace her with an astonished and pleased smile.

"Yeah I know some French too," She said rolling her neck playfully.

"Vous êtes magnifiques," He threw back at her and then continued on around the corner. She stared after him for a moment as she repeated the words in her head, determined to remember them so Camille could translate it for her later.

* * *

**Sometime later**

* * *

She had finally managed to escape the ER and hide out in her office for a quick lunch. She had to admit it was a bit hard to get back into the swing of having full reign over the ER now that Gayle was out on sick leave. She realized just how spoiled she was having Gayle around. Now that Gayle was gone she could see it was going to be hard, and figured it probably wasn't going to get easier as her belly got bigger but she knew she had a great support team of nurses to back her up. She looked up from her half eaten burger and fries to see one of those nurses standing at her office door.

"Hey Kelly did you need something?" Christina greeted amicably as she closed the lid on her food carton and gave the young woman her full attention.

"I'm sorry Christina I didn't mean to interrupt your lunch." Nurse Epson said she entered the office.

"And I know you wouldn't have if it wasn't something important. So what's up?" Taking the invitation Kelly entered further into the office and closed the door behind her before she moved to take the seat across from Christina's desk.

"I'm not sure, a four year old little girl just came into pediatrics, her and her family were involved in a car accident, everyone came through it without a scratch except little Emily," Kelly began to explain and Christina threw a small smile over the fact that only Kelly would take the time to remember the name of each of her current patients, when Christina herself always had to check the patient's file repeatedly for a name. "We're keeping her over night while we run more test so I got her a nightgown and when I went to help her change I found bruises."

"OK well if she was in a car accident and she's staying for observation it's not too surprising that she'd have bruises."

"Except her only injury in the accident was to her head which was smacked against the window on impact with the other car. And these bruises are only in one central location…her inner thighs." Kelly said and her words got Christina's full attention as she stood and moved from her desk to the exit. Kelly followed her out and then took the lead escorting Christina to Emily's room.

"Did you ask her about the bruises where she got them from?"

I tried but she only wanted to talk about her little baby doll Lucy, but when I touched her legs she seized up and I could tell she was very scared. I wasn't sure of what to do I know that if we suspect abuse we're supposed to call child protective services, but what if I'm wrong and it's not abuse. I just wasn't sure of what I should do."

"That's fine you did the right thing by coming to me, but let me ask you something."

"Ok, what?"

"Do you think Emily is being abused? What is the evidence telling you and what's your gut telling you?" Christina asked as they stopped just outside Emily's door.

"They're both telling me that 'yes' Emily's being abused." Kelly answered honestly.

"OK," Christina smiled as she reached out and gently place a hand on Kelly's forearm. "Then next time you know what you need to do and who you need to call. This time I'll handle everything." Kelly nodded her head.

"Thank you Christina." Then they entered the room.

"Good morning," Christina greeted as she extended her hand to the parents. "My name is Christina Hawthorne-Wakefield." She introduced as the father grasped her hand and shook it, and then the mother. All the while Kelly stood back a bit shocked by the name change, her eyes zoomed in her Christina's left hand and to the evidence there. "I'm head of the nursing department here."

"I'm James Jenkins and this is my wife Carol, and our children Jake and Emily." The father introduced.

"It's nice to meet you, do you think we could step outside for just a moment there's something I would like to discuss with you." Both parents nodded their heads and followed Christina out into the corridor, leaving Kelly, Emily, and Emily's half-brother Jake. Kelly moved to the bed and gently stroked Emily's hair as the little girl clutched her baby doll and stared out the door to where her parents stood talking to Christina.

"Don't worry Emily they'll be right back inside." Kelly reassured.

"Is my sister going to be ok?" A small voice spoke from behind her and Kelly turned her attention to the 8 year old boy seated in the chair in the corner.

"Yes your sister is going to be just fine."

"Good, she's special," Jake said as he focused back onto the DS handheld game he had been playing.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine and she'll be released soon and you both be on your way home with your mom and dad."

"She's not my real mom," Jake blurted out never taking his eyes off of his game. "She's Emmy's real mom but not mine."

"Oh, I see." Kelly said and her smile faded a bit as she looked from Jake to the door where Christina was still talking to the parents.

* * *

**Outside the room**

* * *

"Abused?" The mother repeated as she clutched her hand over her chest. "You think Emmy's being abused?"

"We suspect so yes, but we won't know for sure until we do a complete exam. We need your consent."

"O…of course," The father spoke up without hesitation. "You do whatever you need to do, but you've got to be wrong. Emmy's not around anyone who could or would abuse her. She's home with us, my wife is a stay at home mom and Emmy doesn't start school until this year." The father stated and Christina nodded.

"Ok well I'll go ahead and set up for the pelvic exam and I'm going to do it myself. So don't worry I'll make it as stress free for her as possible, and then one of the doctor will speak to you about the results. It can take a couple of hours. Also I do need to tell you that we've already contacted child protective services, and that's protocol whenever there's a suspicion of child abuse. They're here as an advocate of the child but they also provide assistance to the families of abused child."

"Right, that is once they've proven we're not the ones abusing our kid." The father spat out his mood suddenly changed from cooperative to angry.

"Yes." Christina responded honestly.

"I don't understand this," The mother spoke up. "We came here because we were in a car accident and now all of a sudden there's suspicion of child abuse? Based on what?"

"We found bruising…" Christina began to explain only to have the father cut her off.

"She was in a fucking car accident genius; she's bound to have bruises on her."

"Mr. Jenkins, the only other bruises that were found on your daughter, besides the head trauma, was bruising between her legs." Christina stated and the mother moved the hand that wasn't already clutching her chest up to clamp over her mouth.

"Oh God, my poor baby, no…no," The woman shook her head in disbelief as she let her eyes drift into the room to where her only child lay innocently in the bed playing with her doll.

"Who…how, you never noticed the bruising Carol?" The father asked his wife.

"No, Jim…no, God, I would have said something if I had," Carol replied defensively.

"You give her a bath every night. I just don't understand how you wouldn't notice bruising down there." Jim stated in accusatory tone and his wife's face paled. "What?" He asked having noticed the look on her face.

"I haven't been bathing her…at least not for the past two nights. Whenever I mention a bath she starts screaming and running away from me, I intended to mention it to you tonight. Since it's your day off I figured you'd be home and you can make her take one, she always listens to you. I couldn't make her, she was carrying on so badly and scratching at me and biting at me, she actually scared me."

"That's not an unusual reaction especially if there's been some kind of sexual trauma, Children general don't want to be touched down there, but we'll know more once you do a rape kit." Christina stated.

"Rape kit?" Jim jumped in again. "You think my little girl…my little princess has been raped?"

"I don't know which is why we need to do the rape kit to know for sure." Christina explained in a gentler voice. She could see how crushing the news was to the parents and her heart went out to them.

* * *

Kelly had volunteered to take Jake down the cafeteria to grab something to eat while Christina examined his little sister. Kelly had been sitting in comfortable silence for five minutes watching Jake eat a large plate of French fries before she spoke.

"Your sister is in the best hands. Christina, I mean Nurse Hawthorne…Wakefield," She stumbled over the name a bit, knowing it would take her some time to get used to. "She is the very best nurse there it."

"She's even better than you?" Jake questioned as he popped a fry in his mouth and stared at her.

"Yes," Kelly replied with a broad smile and slight chuckle. "Even better than me, your little sister is gonna be fine so you don't have to worry."

"I'm not worried," He stated picking up another fry.

"Well it's ok if you are, I'm sure you love your sister very much and you don't want to see her sick or in pain."

"I _hate_ that brat and I hope she dies. I'd be happy," Jake announced as he stared up at Kelly with sincerity and conviction. Kelly was stunned speechless as her mouth fell open in shock.

* * *

She hesitated at the office door when she saw who was seated inside, but then pushed those jealous emotions down and entered the door, knocking softly.

"Hey," Christina spoke around a smile as she stuck her head in the door. "I'm not interrupting anything am I?" She asked as she eyed the woman seated in front of the large oak desk, before letting her eyes settle onto the man behind the desk, who stood and made his way to her.

"Never," Tom replied and he moved to his wife and leaned in and kissed her, much to the surprise of Christina and Erin who sat silently watching the display of affection. "Did you eat lunch?"

"Uhh…Kinda, I started but then something came up." Christina answered honestly, "Which is why I came to talk to you."

"Come on Christina you know you have to eat, especially now that you're eating for two." Tom reprimanded and Christina's eyes instantly shot to Erin, who looked like she had been slapped in the face. Christina couldn't stop the gloating mantra going on in her head.

"You're pregnant?" Erin asked as she stood from her seat.

"Yep," Christina replied with a smile as she fidgeted with the patient folder she was holding.

"Well congratulations," Erin said but it was obvious to Christina by the look on Dr. Jameson's face that there was no sincerity in her words.

"Thank you," Tom said with a smile.

"Wait, you're the father?" Erin questioned in a disbelieving tone.

"Excuse me?" Christina responded as she twitched her eyes at the woman standing before her and folded her arms across her chest. Both she and Tom stood frowning at Erin, offended by the question. "Yes my '_husband_' is the father of my baby."

"Hu…Husband?" Erin repeated as her mouth fell open and she stumbled a bit as if the wind had been knocked out of her. Christina smirk slightly pleased that her words invoked the reaction she had hoped they would.

"Yes, Christina and I were married last night." Tom stated and he flashed a smile to his wife.

"After she told you she was pregnant…with your child?" Erin continued to question with a hint of skepticism in her voice.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Christina asked as she took a step towards Erin, but Tom stepped between them and grasped her arm.

"You're out of line, Dr. Jameson." Tom said.

"Really, I'm the one who's out of line 'Dr. Wakefield'? This time yesterday you and I were sleeping together, now overnight you're married with children."

"You knew that I was in love with Christina, I made no secrets about that and don't you dare make it seem like we were lovers, all we ever did was 'sleep' when we were together. I know that you wanted more from me, was hoping for more. I'm truly sorry about that, but you need to move on now. And don't you ever disrespect my wife like that again."

"Fine, I'm sorry Christina and congratulations to you both on the baby and your marriage, really." Erin said with a quick smile and a nod. She then made her way to the door exiting and slamming it closed it behind her.

"Wow." Christina blew out along with hot air.

"Sorry about that, are you ok?" Tom asked as he reached out and brushed the knuckles of his right hand against her belly.

"Yeah I'm fine…we're fine." She said with a smile. "But if I find a bunny boiling in a pot in our kitchen, I'm beating her down." Christina joked and got the laugh out of Tom that she had wanted.

"You stopped by for something, please tell me it was for some afternoon delight." He teased as he moved closer to her and grasped her tiny waist with both of his big hands.

"As tempting as that is, no I need a consult," She replied as she held up the folder she had been holding. "It's a child abuse case." They both got serious instantly.

"Is that definitive?" Tom asked as he opened the folder and read the result.

"Yeah I saw the bruising myself her inner thighs and her vagina too. I did the rape kit and I was hoping you'd look over the result and speak with the parents."

"Well they'll probably be happy to know that she wasn't raped."

"Really?" Christina asked in disbelief.

"There was no tearing or swelling to her vaginal walls and her hymen is still intact." Tom said as he read the results out loud.

"Tom there was a lot of bruising; she's literally black and blue down there."

"You getting any vibes from the parents suggesting that one of them did it?" Tom asked and Christina shook her head.

"I don't know, I mean they both genuinely seemed upset and surprised. Whoever did it they just did a couple of days ago. Mom says the daughter has been a terror for the past two days, anytime she tries to give her a bath her, so she's been putting off bathing her until today. But they got into a car accident and were brought here. There's also an 8 year old son, he's been examined too but we found no bruising on him."

"Has child protective services been called?"

"Yeah, they've taken the kids into temporary custody pending our results."

"Ok let's go talk to mom and dad." Tom said as he moved to hold the door open for his wife, but before they could leave Nurse Epson stepped in.

"Hey Kelly," Tom greeted.

"Hey Dr. Wakefield, oh by the way congratulations to both of you on your marriage."

"Thank you," Tom and Christina said in unison.

"I wanted to speak with you about Jake." Kelly said directly to Christina.

"What about him?"

"I'm just concerned about him."

"Why?" Christina continued to probe.

"He told me he hated his sister and he wanted her to die. He went on and on about how Emily is only his half-sister and Emily's mom Carol isn't his biological mom. You had to hear the way that he spoke about Emily the way he said it, I believe that he's involved in this too. I know we've already examined him for abuse and we didn't find any 'physical' signs of it, but I think it might be psychological abuse…it's just a gut feeling…"

"You know that's good enough for me, I'll talk to him." Christina said with a reassuring smile.

"And I'll go speak with the parents." Tom added as she headed out behind Kelly and Christina.

* * *

"This is good news right? I mean this proves that we didn't abuse our daughter," Mr. Jenkins spoke excitedly as he stood outside Emily's hospital room, with Tom, Christina, Kelly, his Wife, son and one of the two Child advocates. While the other advocate remained in the room with Emily.

"No, what it proves is that your daughter wasn't rape," Tom tried to clarify. "But she was still very clearly and severely abused."

"But we didn't abuse her," Carol Jenkins said with conviction. "We love Emmy."

"Well," Christina spoke taking this moment as an opportunity to broach the subject that Kelly had mentioned. "You say that she's not around anyone except your family. She's not in school and you're a stay at home mom…is there anyone that comes into your home a housecleaner?"

"No, no one," Carol answered as she shook her head and bit her bottom lip.

"Well who caused those bruises a ghost?" Asked the young female child advocate, who was the same build as Christina and about the same age but she had a paler completion, blue eyes, and blonde hair. Her voice held great distain because she had seen too many cases where the parents claimed they didn't do anything only to discover later that one and sometimes both of the parents were in fact the abusers.

"You're not helping this situation," Christina stated.

"I'm not here to 'help' the abuser," The advocate proclaimed. "I'm here for the children."

"We have never abused our daughter," Jim repeated his earlier claim in an irate tone.

"So you keep saying, but there's just you your wife and your two children in your home. We've already determined that Emily isn't doing harm to herself. You state that there is no one outside the family who comes into the home. You claim that you and your wife aren't harming her, so who else does that leave?" The advocate asked and after a moment's pause Carol turned to stare at Jake who leaned against a nearby wall playing on his hand held game, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings. Everyone's eyes followed hers.

"Oh my God," Carol gasped out as she continued to stare at the little boy who now stared back at her. "Did you hurt Emmy?"

"What…no, Jakey wouldn't hurt his baby sister." Jim defended his son.

"Answer me, did you hurt my baby?" Carol asked again as she moved and stood in front of the silent child. Jake looked up at her but showed no real emotions, which invoked anger in Carol, and she grasped him by arms and began shaking him. "What did you do to my baby?" She screamed as both Jim and Tom moved to pull her off of Jake. "Why would you do that, why?" Her screams melted into sobs as she was led away by Kelly.

"Jakey," Jim called out to his son who wouldn't meet his eye. "Did you hurt your sister? Answer me!" Jake flinched back a bit at his father's loud, demanding voice but still wouldn't meet his eyes.

"That's enough Mr. Jenkins," The child's advocate intervened and moved to grasp Jake in her protective arms.

* * *

She stood in the corridor staring inside the window at mother and daughter, curled up in bed together, and then let her eyes drift to the father, who sat despondent in the waiting area. It had already been two hours since Child Protective Services and Richmond PD took Jake into their custody. Strong arms wrapped around her waist and the warm and familiar scent of after shave, comforted her and she briefly closed her eyes and leaned back against Tom's broad chest.

"Are you ok?" He spoke against her temple, and then placed a kiss there.

"You know, you're not supposed to be fraternizing like this in the hospital, you better hope Morrissey doesn't see you." Christina teased using Pearl's earlier word. Tom smirked.

"I don't care. Are you ok?" He asked again and she shook her head as she locked her gaze back onto the mother and child.

"No," She answered honestly. "That little boy kicked and punched his little sister. He brutalized her because he was jealous of her and her mom. He saw them both as a threat to his relationship with his father."

"And that concerns you…why?" Tom questioned genuinely curious.

"Because that's us…you, Camille, and me"

"Come on Christina," Tom released and turned her around to face him. "You can't honestly believe that Camille will react that way. She seemed to be perfectly fine with you and I seeing each other."

"Yeah, well you coming around every once and awhile is a lot different then you moving in virtually overnight. From her being an only child to now have a sibling."

"I think you're over reacting to this but if it worries you than we'll sit Camille down and talk to her about everything."

"Yeah?" Christina replied with a smile, she was pleased that Tom didn't want to push everything off on her to deal with.

"Absolutely, we're a family now and we'll handle any problems together."

"God I love the sound of that, and I love you for saying it," She said as she leaned up and placed a soft kiss upon her husband's lips.

"Also I think Camille should be involved when we go house hunting, I want her to have her say about the new house we buy." Tom said out of the blue and his words stunned Christina for a moment.

"I'm sorry…house hunting, you want to buy a new house?"

"Yeah, I have to be honest I have never really felt comfortable being with you in the house you shared with Michael. Now that we're married and starting a family of our own, I think we should have a home of 'our' own." At that moment his pager went off, he quickly read the message. "Sorry baby I gotta go but we'll talk about this more over dinner, Ok? I love you," He leaned in for another quick kiss and then rushed off leaving Christina feeling like she was in a whirlpool. "Oh and we'll talk to Camille too." He tossed over his shoulder as he disappeared around the corner.

"Talk to me about what?" A voice spoke from behind her and a startled Christina twirled around to face her daughter.

"Uhm…" Christina stood with her mouth open staring at her daughter, at a loss for what to say. Camille stared back and arched a brow at her mother as the right side of her mouth lifted into a crooked smile. "There's something I need to tell you, well Tom and I both wanted to talk to you about this, but I think he'll be ok if I told you."

"OK," Camille stood waiting.

"Maybe I should wait until Tom…" Christina began to chicken out and Camille reached out and grasped her mother's hands.

"Mom, if it's about you and Tom getting married last night and about my baby sister, then I already know. You should know by now that you can't keep any secrets in this place," Camille said with a giggle, which increased at the dumbfounded look on her mother's face. "And just so you know I kind of figured that you and Tom would someday evolve into more, though I have to admit I was stunned that's you'd want to have a baby at your age…"

"Hey 36 is not that old."

"Whatever, anyway I'm very happy for you…and Tom. Also I plan on spoiling my little sister rotten, just so you know." She announced as she reached out and tickled Christina's stomach. "I gotta go need to get these to the lab," She held up the plastic bag containing a stool sample and both Camille and Christina held the same disgusted expression on their faces. "You guys will be home for dinner tonight right?"

"Yeah there's something else Tom and I need to talk to you about and I'll let Tom tell it since it's completely his thing."

"Ok," Camille nodded her head and then headed off. "Later."

"I love you, you know that right?" Christina called after Camille who turned back and eyed their surrounds and then threw her mother a look that begged her mother not to embarrass her. "And nothing will ever change that."

"Yeah I know, love you too." Camille shook her head a bit at her 'hormonal' mother and then continued on her way. Christina stared after her daughter with a smile on her face and she gently stroked her belly.

"You're gonna be a boy, contrary to what you and Tom seem to think." She called out again. "Isn't that right little one," She whispered to her belly before she turned on her heels and head back down to the ER.

* * *

**'Rough French Translations', the only thing french about me is my first name 'Parisian' so sorry to the French if the translations are not right:**  
1. ma fille: My daughter  
2. fills: Son  
3. vous êtes magnifiques: You are wonderful


End file.
